The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The popularity of multimedia sessions, such as media streams, is constantly increasing as shown by the increasing use of video conferences, video phone calls, streaming of live television, streaming of previously recorded events, Internet radio, and the like. Each of these services requires transferring a different amount of data between the two or more parties involved in the multimedia session. Bitrate is a measure of the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. Certain qualities of media require different bitrates. Some common examples, in approximate terms, are: telephone quality audio: 8 kilobits/sec; Compact Disc quality audio: 1,400 kilobits/sec; 240 p video using the H.264 video compression standard: 400 kilobits/sec; 480 p video using H.264: 1 megabit/sec; 720 p video using H.264: 2.5 megabits/sec to 3.8 megabits/sec; 1080 p video using H.264: 4.5 megabits/sec to 6.8 megabits/sec. H.264 is a popular video compression standard. 240 p, 480 p, 720 p, and 1080 p are common video resolutions, in which the p stands for progressive scan.
A given multimedia session may take place using varying bitrates based, for example, on a maximum stable speed that each device participating in the multimedia session can maintain. As an example, consider a video stream that begins at 240 p and gradually increases to 1080 p over a period of time. Typically, when beginning a media session, all devices that connect to a given media server are treated the same, and therefore all the multimedia sessions start at a default bitrate and increase over time. However, not all devices, and their Internet connections, are the same. Additional solutions are needed to improve the user experience.